Monday, December 31, 2012

About Simona Rich

My name is Simona Rich and I help people improve themselves through the articles and products of this website. Although I have found my life's purpose and now I spend my time traveling throughout India and sharing my knowledge, my life used to be completely

In this post I express my opinion about three main religions, which are Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. I don't intend with this post to change your opinion about any of these religions, however I hope that this post will help those who are confused about these religions. Hopefully my post will inspire and empower those lost in religions to think more outside the box and find God in their own unique way.

My opinion about Christianity

I was born into a non-practicing Christian family. From my extended family only my grandmother used to quite regularly go to church. However she was the most "lost" member of my family without even knowing it. She would get angry for nothing and take action as a result of this negativity. Finally she got cancer and died, which wasn't a big surprise for anyone in my family considering how much anger and hatred she stored inside.In the past I sometimes used to go to church too because my best friend in my childhood was from a religions family and they would go to church every Sunday. Church people, as I came to find as years passed by, was the most narrow-minded bunch I ever came across. They think they are very spiritual but they don't know anything about spirituality. They consider themselves superior to those who don't go to church. They busy themselves with setting others straight whilst they themselves are the biggest sinners.I'm not saying all church people are the same, but a lot of them commit many sins outside of the church, like talking bad things about others and getting jealous and angry about small things, and then they go to church, confess their sins, say a few prayers and again commit the same sins. This practice is widely accepted in the Christian community.Some Christians truly believe that disclosing their sins to the priest was all it took to get God's mercy. Isn't that the most childish idea anyone can think of? Why would God grant the priest an authority to forgive other human beings? Priest is the same human being as me and you – he doesn't have any higher powers or anything else that would make him more God-like than the rest of us.Those who are sworn Christians are mainly fanatics. They live by the Bible but they don't feel it. They are merely fools ready to fight anyone who doesn't belong to their religion and blindly following the text but not pondering on the meaning of it. That's why they ignore many contradictions that one finds in the Bible and get angry when someone challenges their beliefs. This also makes them one of the most egoic communities you can find around.I met a few healthy Christian families. They live a good life but their life is fear-based. It seems that the only reason they live a sin-free life is because they are afraid to burn in hell. That's not what real spirituality is about. Anything fear-based is wrong because fear itself is a lie, an illusion.I dislike many things about Christianity. I don't like that it's said in the Bible that everyone has to accept Christ as their saviour as only then they will go to heaven. It was even once said in the Bible that soul is mortal (though the Bible has been rewritten since then many times) and that the only way to save your soul and make it immortal is to, as I said, accept Christ as your saviour. It's very cruel to fool people this way and waste their lives so that they would stick to this religion.So basically Christianity claims that all people who haven't got a chance to come into contact with Christianity are doomed. How wrong could that be? Why would God be so cruel as not to give a chance for some people to become aware of Christianity?When one ponders on this issue for some time, she will most likely to realise that God could not limit itself to only one religion. She is most likely to come to the conclusion that this idea of only one religion being right is man-made and is made for the reason to convert more people into a particular religion.Religion is profitable for priests, so the more converts they have, the more their churches will prosper.Now another thing I dislike about Christianity is that it's full of contradictions. Just do one exercise to find this out yourself. Read the accounts of the same event by different saints, like Matthew or John and then tell me how many inconsistencies and even contradictions of the events you will find in the Bible.I do believe that the Bible is based on truth, but it's been covered by so many false accounts that you are better off not reading it at all. It will only leave you confused, trust me. And those professors who claim that there are no inconsistencies in the Bible are only doing so because they have strong attachments to this religion and their minds cannot allow any denying of this religion to arise.It's very stupid for Christians to think that people who did not choose this religion will go to hell. This is so close-minded, so childish. Once I had a friend who stopped talking to me when she realised that I'm a non-practicing Christian. How silly.What I find so annoying in Christianity as I do in Islam is the concept of a sin. The fear of sin prevents people from spiritually progressing, and let me tell you how. For example, if a person has a desire to have multiple sex partners and Christianity prohibits it, he will fear doing it and this fear together with this unrealised desire will freeze his spiritual progress.Whist if he would have multiple sexual partners and finally experience what it's all about, only then he may see this desire for what it really is and thus move on to higher ideals. Of course some people will get stuck in this desire for ever, but some would become spiritual. Whereas if they would never try this experience none could reach higher spiritual truths.

My opinion about Islam

Although Muslims and Christians always fight with each other, there are many similarities in these two religions. Both religions are made by men because women are considered of less importance in these religions. Both religions have a place called heaven. Both religions think that those who do not belong to their religion are eternally doomed.The good thing about Quran is that it wasn't changed (this claim is arguable however). But the worse thing about it is that through an ill-mind it can become a lethal weapon, because ill-minds interpret it in an evil way. That's how fanatics of Islam come to being.In reality both Christians and Muslims are good people. Some of them try their best to convert people to their religion so as to "save" them. This is a good intention, but it's based on the belief that only their religion is right and this cannot be so, because God is fair.If anyone would ask me which religion is better to blindly follow, Christianity or Islam, I would have to say Islam because their religion contains less contradictions in my opinion. Also many Muslim families are healthy and strong families, as I came to know. But this close-mindedness and less respect for people of other religions and atheists is what I really dislike about this religion.Once I was in a hospital's prayrer room in India, praying for my close friend who had a spine injury. One Muslim nurse came and started praying. She prayed a few seconds, just because a Muslim has to pray, and then spent the rest of her prayer time talking on her mobile. Then she finished talking, did a few seconds' prayer and went away. Are the rituals is all it takes to be a good Muslim? She would sin less by no praying at all, then by praying just because it's written in the Quran to do so.That's another thing I find so sad with so called religious people. Muslims as well as Christians follow their sacred texts with minds rather than hearts. This strips off any spirituality that could be felt by following the sacred writings. Any good Muslim or Christian would not be cruel or egoic with others. However many religious people have even childish character traits which, they think, count for nothing as long as they repeat the words of their religious texts and follow the rituals.

My opinion about Hinduism

Out of all the religions I know, Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism are closest to my heart. Jainism (but not extreme Jainism where one consciously chooses to slowly die so as not to hurt anything on this planet) makes most sense to me because it's based on non-violence. Then Buddhism is next, because it's based on non-attachment. And then comes Hinduism, because it came into existence through the writings of the sages who cared not to put their names on this religion. It's the religion that was not born out of one person, like Christianity or Islam did.Hinduism came out of the writings of the Rishis, the "Seers" of India. In my opinion, Vedas, which are the most important sacred writings of the Rishis that Hinduism is based on, contains least contradictions and makes most sense. The Vedas make most sense logically and when you have spiritual experiences you come to know by the experience of the truth of the Vedas.Hinduism is the oldest religion and the least cruel religion. It respects other religions and does not try to convert other people into it. Christianity and Islam looks like the religion of barbarians compared to Hinduism.I'm not saying that Hinduism is the be all and end all, because I don't know everything about this religion. I may never come to know every detail of it, because I don't know the language of Sanskrit, and only if you read the sacred writings in the original language can they reveal themselves to you in their entirety.But Hiduism is indeed the most truthful religion in my opinion. It doesn't devalue women, firstly, but regards them as completely equal, because they are. Men could not exist without women and women could not exist without men. Good could not exist without bad. Black could not exist without white. So why are there more promises of goodness given to Muslim men after their sin-free life finishes than there are for women? This is unfair and God is fair. So what does it say about this religion? That it's man-made.Hinduism provides more spiritual teachings about how the world came into existence than any other religion. For example, Christianity uses a lot of parables or a very basic way of explaining spirituality, as though it's directed to people with low awareness level. For example, it talks about an angry God living in the skies rather than about an impersonal universal intelligence.When I think about it, such religious texts like those of Christianity are directed to people who cannot understand deep spirituality. And so they are created so that those people who are entirely ignorant of the laws of the universe would not commit sins or cause too much chaos.For example, some people would not believe or understand that there is a universal law of cause and effect. This law states that if you do something bad you must receive something bad because you put a bad effect into motion which must bear its fruits. But ignorant people may be more affected if they are told that there is an angry God watching their every move from the skies and if they commit a sin they will be punished. So this fear-based teaching may produce a bigger effect on ignorant people than the teaching of an impersonal God and universal laws.Hinduism is more suited for people with a better understanding of spirituality. Reading Vedas a person becomes empowered and more understanding whilst reading the Bible a person becomes frightened and confused.In the Vedas and other Hindu spiritual texts there are so many eye-opening statements, there is so much wisdom. For example, in the Bhagavat Gita (another Hindu sacred text) it is told that a person should work all her life, but she must not become attached to the results of her work, that she should dedicate the fruits of her work to God. Only this way the working person can become happy. Any work done with some kind of expectation leaves one miserable.Vedas explain everything about this world; This is the only text that in my opinion clearly explains the nature of this reality and the reason for it. This text makes me want to have been born an Indian in this life-time so that I would more deeply understand it.Hindus in general are very accepting and less egoic people than the rest. For example, there is far less jealousy in a Hindu girl than there is in a Christian or a Muslim girl. There is much less aggression and hatred in Hindu people than in the people of other religions. Most Hindu people live in peace with nature and accept their circumstances. They seem to be quite pure in their hearts and little do they know that they are much happier than the people living in the West whose religion is either Islam or Christianity.Hindu people care less about materialistic things than Muslims or Christians do. And although they worship gods by worshiping their images, which is prohibited in Christianity or Islam, they are the least evil race I have come across (which makes me doubt this whole belief that it's a sin to worship idols).What I have read about this idol worship issue and what I believe myself is that it's not a bad thing. It's for those people who cannot grasp this idea of universal intelligence and want a more concrete God. The vast majority of people can't grasp the universal intelligence idea, so choosing to worship a picture or a statue is the only way for them to communicate with God.From childhood I didn't see the point in praying to a statue. It seemed funny and strange to me. For me it's easy to feel God everywhere and I can pray to God by praying inside my head or by meditation. But I don't judge those who can't grasp this idea, because every person is different and therefore is on different levels of awareness.

Conclusion

I could go on and on about this topic of religion, but in this post I chose to express my most important feelings and notices about each religion. I hope that this blog post will help those still confused about or lost in a certain religion. In my opinion it's better not to belong to any religion but find God in your own unique way, because each of us is unique. Religions, keep in mind, are made by men and not by God.I choose to follow the path of spirituality on my own terms. I make mistakes of course, but this path, as I came to know, is the most fulfilling one. If you tasted what's like to belong to a religion and didn't find fulfillment in this way of living, I urge you to try to drop your religion and find God using your intuition and your inspiration.

Amidst a concerted effort by some intellectuals, retired military and foreign office mandarins to somehow cede the Siachen Glacier to Pakistan, some analysts are striving to promote the Mahabharata in public consciousness as India's epic of war. The Archaeological Survey of India's wing at Siri Fort is hosting an exhibition on the epic, with huge charts explaining the military manoeuvres employed by the Kuru and Pandava armies at Kurukshetra.

These classic concepts of warfare are deeply rooted in the national psyche and keep recurring in its history. Major-General Gagandeep Bakshi (retired) points out that in the 1965 War an Indian brigade was in danger of being outflanked by a hitherto unknown Pakistani First Armoured Division which crept up behind it. Thinking on his feet, the commanding officer responded with the classic Ardha Chandra Vyuha (half-moon formation) and ordered the breaking of the canals crisscrossing the region. A virtual swamp was created at Asal Uttar to ground the enemy force which was surrounded in crescent formation and decimated along with 100 Pakistani tanks.

Another enduring manoeuvre is Sakata/Sarbatomukha Vyuha or T-shaped formation which parallels the Lagger battle drill of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps in the Second World War.

Military experts feel history should be taught in terms of innovations that transform the historical process via local Revolutions in Military Affairs (RMAs). At the time of the Mahabharata War, the military paradigm comprised four sections (chaturanga bala) of variable speed - chariots, elephants, cavalry and infantry - which were deployed in battle arrays derived from games like chausar (chess).

The Mauryan Empire's massed use of war elephants shifted the military paradigm, generating shock and awe in opposing armies and proving far superior to the chariot as it could carry 6-8 archers against two in a chariot. Elephants had tremendous mobility in any terrain, and helped Kautilya create the gigantic Mauryan Empire in just 25 years. Interestingly, it changed caste equations in favour of the Shudras who manned the war elephants; Chandragupta was a Shudra. Kautilya used the army to smash the remnants of Greek power in Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and secured the invasion routes on the northwest frontier. Centuries later, the British Empire could not secure Afghanistan, and the Americans are in the process of retreat.

In 1971, India again deployed Kautilyan techniques and won a resounding victory, creating Bangladesh in just 14 days and taking 93,000 prisoners of war. Here, the Air Force was used to generate shock and awe, while the ground campaign was preceded by eight months of destabilization caused by the revolt of the Mukti Bahini.

The Mahabharata symbolizes the Indian concept of History as cycles of change that recur at regular intervals, albeit in different form. It was a civilisational armageddon fought with bows, arrows, spears, maces, javelins, and chariots, elephants and horses. Today we have tanks, aeroplanes, missiles, precision guided munitions and even nuclear, chemical and biological warfare weapons and information technology.

A deeper analysis of the Mahabharata and its sub-text, the Gita, reveals an Indian synthesis of Marxist and Arnold Toynbee thought. Marxists emphasise the forces of history as the basis of historical evolution and change. Toynbee stressed the importance of the individual as the source of change – great emperor or charismatic leader such as Alexander, Napoleon, Bismarck, Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill, Mao and so on. Marxists counter that charismatic leaders are agents of underlying Forces of History – were it not for the Great Economic depression of the 1930s there would be no rise of Hitler in Germany.

In the Gita, Krishna who established a democratic republican clan of the Yadavas in an era of hereditary monarchies, propounded the Avtara theory of history: "When Dharma or righteousness decline, I incarnate to alleviate the suffering of the civilisation". This sums up an Indian concept of history based on two parameters: a decline in the human / civilisational condition poses a challenge; the rise of charismatic civilisational leaders in response to such challenge (incarnate leaders / incarnations of greatness).

Great charismatic leaders arise only in response to collective civilisational challenges and they alone can overcome the challenges. This core of wisdom from the Mahabharata transcends the era of the Epic and remains relevant to our contemporary world. In the context of soldiering, India boasts some of the finest fighting ethnicities that have proven themselves in almost all battlefields against world class foes like the Germans, Japanese and Turks. Many are mentioned in the epic – Dogras (Dogratas), Suryavanshi and Chandravanshi Rajputs, Jats, Yadavas and Ahirs of Mathura, Biharis, Assamese (Angadesa and Kamrupa), Nagas (Ghatotkach, son of Hidimba after whom modem Dimapur or Hidimbapur is named).

Dehradun, where the Indian Military Academy is situated, derives from Dera-Drona, camp of Drona, who taught archery and the art of war to the Kaurava and Pandava princes. The ASI has long established the historicity of Hastinapur (Meerut), Bairota (Virat Nagar, district Jaipur, Rajasthan), Paniprastha (Panipat, Haryana), Vrikshprastha (Baghpat, Meerut) and Indraprastha (Delhi).

The Mahabharata is no legend but the core of our psychological reality which we must study afresh as it has much to teach us. Its most pertinent lesson is Krishna's counsel of patience to the Pandavas, making them devote long years to forging alliances and acquiring powerful weapons for victory in the eventual war. Many veterans condemn all premature efforts to settle disputed borders and to buy peace with Pakistan at the cost of Indian security.

I have fought for Kashmir Pandits ever since I covered Kashmir in the nineties and saw them flee helpless and terrified. In 2005, I received the Natchiketa Award of Excellence in journalism at the hand of PM in Lok Sabha and with the prize money I started a Foundation FACT (Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism) and my first exhibition was on the plight of Kashmir People.

HH Sri Ravi Shankar was so touched by it that He took it all over the world with Him. We showed it to the Polish Parliament, the Israeli Parliament, the Scottish parliament, in the Commonwealth Club in London and even to US congress in Washington, which led to a Resolution on the plight of the kashmiri pundits.

But I have to tell you something, Hindus are still a huge majority in Bhaarat, but it's like a lion who thinks he is a mouse and does no its strength. It's pretty pathetic that out of 400,000 Hindus, (there were a million of them in the valley of Kashmir in 1900), not a single one put a fight and fired a shot in defense, when their brothers were killed, their wives raped, their children burnt in the Valley of Kashmir. Hindus pride themselves in their peace loving way. I really appreciate it myself; Bhaarat is a land of peace, where all the persecuted minorities of the world have found refuge, including lately the Tibetans. But isn't it cowardice sometimes? The Gita tells us in the words of Lord Krishna that when your way of life is threatened , when Untruth is about to overcome Truth, when your borders are threatened, your wives raped, your children killed, it is rightful and dharmic to fight, by force if necessary.

Sri Aurobindo came to remind everybody that it was alright to throw out the British man militarily, to the point that his brother Bann manufactured bombs in the basement of Sri Aurbindo's house, but his voice was not heard. Today Buddhism, Ghandhism, and leftist intellectual thought have weakened Bhaarat and She seems sometimes ready to let go of huge chunks of Her territory, whether the valley of Kashmir, Assam to the Bangladeshis, Arunachal to the Chinese, without a fight.

We are just crying and inactive to protest against any of the anti Hindu matters. We are really afraid of what others will think about us, if we open our mouth against such media propaganda. No media in India is dared to expose anything related to minority communities. (Especially channels in Kerala are running on the funds of so called minorities and they will take all steps to attract their viewers and Hindu secularists will continue live here by writing these types of emails without any results. Now time is up to rejuvenate Hindu culture and to expose the media hype against Hindus. Whether it is asianet, malayala manorama or reporter, all are fighting to tarnish Hindu mythology and culture. In this way they are playing a dangerous card of division among people of Kerala. Once upon a time, we all lived in peace and harmony in our state. Now day by day Kerala is going on a division among Hindus and minorities. Minorities hold 80% of wealth of Kerala and they are controlling all government machinery's and use these machinery's for the welfare of their people. It is very shame to see that government is openly spending money for the minority community. Now government is going to appoint more than 3000 employees for looking after the fund disbursements of minority development programme. Earlier Marxist and communist parties snatched away all the land from Hindu communities in the name of land reforms act. Now these lands are accumulated in the hands of Christians and Muslims. Moreover all government (irrespective of LDF or UDF) will support all the encroachments in forests and hills. Now tigers or any animal does not have any place to live and it is natural that they will come out of the so called forest. They even want to reduce the importance of sabarimala and thereby they can encroach to that area .Even small help received by thousands of temples from sabarimala can be stopped and the entire Hindu community can be destroyed.

Hindus cannot buy land or build houses due to soaring prices in market, which was artificially created by supply of fake currency from Pakistan as well as due to international conspiracy against Hindus.

Still we are wasting our time and energy in writing email like this without any improvement in Hindus condition in Kerala. So we need to take some steps whatever small at individual level to protect the Hindu culture and tradition.

WE ARE NOT AGAINST ANYBODY BUT WE HAVE A RIGHT TO STAY PEACEFULLY IN OUR OWN COUNTRY BY PRACTICING OUR RICH CULTURE AND TRADITION.

Quotes about Christianity;

Quotes by Christian Churchill against Hindu Dharma

Here is what some important people have said about Christianity.

"When I think of all the harm the Bible has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it." — Oscar Wilde

"Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." — Voltaire

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned: yet we have not advanced one inch towards humanity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support error and roguery all over the earth." — Thomas Jefferson

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Hinduism's pluralism irked colonial rulers. Hostility of official as well as unofficial nature did exist. From Goa Inquisition to Winston Churchill there are many examples.

Churchill referred to Indians as "beastly people with beastly religion (i.e Hinduism)", 'Hindus are a foul race protected by their rapid breeding from "the doom that is their due."' He wished Arthur Harris, the head of British bomber command, could "send some of his surplus bombers to destroy them."(Reference: Churchill's Secret War)

During last twenty two years of militancy in J&K state especially in Kashmir valley which is now populated by Muslims only. The fundamentalist Molvi's from UP and other places visit Kashmir to spread "Wahbi"Islam there. The Muslims in Kashmir were generally followers of "Sufism" (a soft and secular Islam) and would make frequent visits to Dharghas of Sufi saints to offer prayers.

These radical preachers (molvis) give sermons to the people in the mosques during the Friday prayers to make them hard believers in wahbi Islam and its aim and objectives. They say…

1) For every true Muslim there is directive (fatwa) to spread Islam through out the world by destroying the other religions and their culture by whatever means available to them.

2) In India (pre partition) the target was Hindu's (which includes Sikhs, Jain's and Buddhists) and their Dharma and Culture. Muslim fighters came to India first to take away as much wealth as possible and then finally established the Islamic rule.

3) We Muslims then started the mass conversion of Hindus into Islam with the help of Muslim rulers through different methods. About 40 % of the Hindu's in India (pre partition) were converted into Islamic faith till the take over by the Colonial Power. In this process we destroyed a number of there places of learning and cultural centers.

4) After the exit of colonial power we resumed the process of conversion into Islamic faith. Since we doubted the support the new ruling classes in this mission, so we had to change the strategy.

5) We started asking for a separate home land for Muslims and managed to take away about one third of the pre partition India. We made sure that important cultural centers and places of learning of Hindus, especially in Sindh are included in it we called this land as Pakistan (pious land) To make Hindus happy we called the rest as Hindustan. During the partition of India we ensured that Pakistan remains free from Hindus and keep as many Muslims in Hindustan as possible.

6) Immediately after partition we took up the job of destroying the Hindu culture centers and important places of learning in Pakistan. This was followed by the conversion of left over Hindus into Islam. We succeeded in this mission and today there are only the few Hindus there.

7) In Hindustan we first saw that the Hindustan was called by pre partition name i.e. India which is secular and the Muslim population started expanding very fast and demanding equal rights. In this case we are thankful to the ruling class and especially principal ruling family. Some say that this family has Mughal (Muslim) roots and not Hindus. Hindu society is a victim of cast system which was first exploited by colonial power to establish their rule and now it is exploited by the political parties in their struggle for power.

8) In present India there are some important pilgrimage centers viz Ayodha , Mathura, haridwar etc. we have succeeded in blocking their development and construction of temples especially at Ayodha to ensure that Hindus do not have any major central points where there could be their large gathering.

9) Thereare now no Hindu's by name in India, it is SC, ST, OBC etc. with there own leaders. The attempt is also being made to see Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists declared as non Hindu's. While as the Muslims under the banner of Islam is a single group.

10) Thus among all these groups Muslims in India are now in majority and you will soon see that the Indian Tricolor is replaced by green Islamic flags and entire India will become an Islamic state.

The moment the people of Kashmir hear this, there is a thunderous applause in every mosque. They are encouraged to continue their Islamic movement.

What these radical preachers (molvies) say is a historical fact besides the current political situation in India. Every political party appeases Muslims in one form or the other to get their vote which is under the command of these Molvies.

It is really an alarming situation for Hindu Dharma and culture which is oldest and richest in the world. There is still time to save the situation and work together against the expanding radical Islam otherwise it will be too late.

Hindus are in deep slumber and ignorant about this expansion of radical Islam and God for bits if attacked through terror they shall not find any shelter.

People know wishful thinking as naive as other Hindu Bhaaratiya who first thought the Muslim invaders were friends and then the Britishers were traders. Historically, when Hinduism was strong and didnt attack anyone but also didnt allow anyone to attack India had its Golden perioid. Once you are only spending energy on solving social problems but keep your doors open, dont protect your territory the enemies think you are weak and attack you. Swamy is right here....he is not only convincing the article is also based on facts. You cannot be doing good for one another when the minorities in India are funded by a rogue terrorist nation Pakistan that keeps pumping counterfeit notes and terrorists into India.

When Pranab Mukherjee was sworn in as the President of India in July 2012, the world witnessed a Parsi Chief Justice Kapadia swear in a Brahmin President Mukherjee,with a Muslim Vice President Hamid Ansari,a Sikh Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,an Italian-born Catholic chairman of the ruling party Sonia Gandhi,a Dalit Speaker of the Parliament Meira Kumar attending the ceremony.a Sikh Chief of the Indian Army General Bikram Singh,an Anglo Indian from Allahabad - Chief of Air Force Air Chief Marshal N.A.K.(Norman Anil Kumar) Browne - whose son Omar is also an ace fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force.Wonder which other country on this globe has a similar record?